


The Softest Hands to Hold

by Superdaisies



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Future Fic, Kid Fic, Uncle Shitty, name dropping some of the Pittsburg Penguins, non NHL approved snacking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6746161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superdaisies/pseuds/Superdaisies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric and Jack both have work emergencies, and it's up to Uncle Shitty to pick up their daughter from school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a lot of deliberation, I decided to break this up into 3 parts. Finals week is hitting hard and I haven't been able to work on the final chapter as much as I'd have liked. But I posted the basic first draft of Chapter 1 on my tumblr and it got a great response. So here you go.  
> 

Jenny sat down on the sidewalk. She picked a stick off the ground and pretended she was papa, with his big sticks that he had all over the house.

“I’m sure your dad will be here soon. Do you want to go to the office and call him?” Mrs. Rodriguez bent down to her level, putting her hand on Jenny’s shoulder.

Daddy was never late to pick her up, Jenny thought. Maybe he forgot about her. He wouldn’t forget her, would he? And if daddy forgot, there was no way papa could forget too, Jenny reminded herself. She sniffled and wiped her hand on her sleeve. “It’s Friday. Friday is cupcake day.”

Mrs. Rodriguez helped her off the ground and they walked hand in hand to the office. Jenny was the last kid in the pick up zone that day, the rest of the kids having left over twenty minutes before. Eric was usually incredibly punctual in arriving to pick up his daughter; she was normally one of the first kindergarteners to leave, which made this day even more odd.

Jenny swung her legs in the big chair in the front office, sipping on an extra juice box she had found in her backpack, while the receptionist pulled up her emergency contact information.

Mrs. Rodriguez called the first phone number on the list, putting it on speakerphone.

“Uh hello? This is Eric Bittle’s phone!” A frantic young male voice called out, “He isn’t able to come right now. Can I pass on a message?”

“Yes! This is Mrs. Rodriguez, Jenny’s kindergarten teacher. She’s still here at school, and I was calling to see if there was someone who would be coming.”

The other voice on the phone shouted distantly, “Hey Bitty! Jen’s still at school! No one ever picked her up!”

“Oh Lord, we were supposed to text about that... Have them call Jack!” Eric’s voice drifted over the phone, making Jenny’s head snap up.

“I’m so sorry, something came up, a last minute emergency,” the young man’s voice returned it’s focus to the phone call, “We had a delivery man drop a wedding cake right before the ceremony, so we’re crunching to fix it. If you could, call Jack Bittle, who’ll probably be able to come get her. Thank you!”

The phone call ended, and the receptionist pointed to the next name on the list. When the phone rang, a young woman answered.

“Hello, is this Jenny’s mom? This is Mrs. Rodruigez, her kindergarten teacher and I’m ca--” She was cut off by a laugh at the other end.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. Uh, no. This isn’t Jenny’s mom. I’m on Jack’s PR staff. _He’s_ able to talk right now, but he doesn’t have much time. I’ll go get him.”

The sound of a phone being jostled and passed was heard before a deep, “Yes? Hello?”

Jenny lit up at the sound of papa’s voice, jumping out of her chair and running to get close to the phone in Mrs. Rodriguez’s hand.

“Hi, Mister Bittle? Yes, this Jenny’s teacher. She’s still here at school with me; Eric never came to get her. He said to call you.”

“Merde,” Jack’s voice muffled through the phone. “I had an PR thing come up before warm ups. I’m not able to get across town. I’ll call someone to come get her. He should be able to be there in twenty minutes. Can I speak to Jenny?”

“Of course,” Mrs. Rodriguez said softly, taking the phone off speaker and handing it to Jenny.

“Papa!” the little girl called out. “Oui. Oui. Ca va. Non, non,” she giggled, which her teacher assumed was a good sign. “Ok. Tonight. Pinky promise. Je t’aime. Oui papa.” She handed the phone back to Mrs. Rodriguez.

“Her uncle’s on his way now. Thank you so much, I’m so sorry. Thank you,” Jack said, before hanging up.

 

Jenny was on her fourth slow read through of the Cat In the Hat when the little bell on the office door jingled.

“Hi, I’m here to pick up Jennifer Bittle?”

She looked up from her book to see the man standing at the counter, looking around for her. He looked a little frantic; his suit was slightly wrinkled and his hair was falling out of a loose bun.

“Uncle Shitty!” She screamed, dropping her things and running towards him. He dropped to his knees and hugged her tight.

“Hey, kid!”

Mrs. Rodriguez had a look of mild horror on her face. She wasn’t sure how such a small five year old could go from speaking perfect French to shouting obscenities in a matter of minutes. Shitty caught the look on her face and laughed, having long gotten used to that general response.

“Ma’am,” He stood to shake her hand. “Shitty Knight, Jack Zimmermann’s best friend and lawyer.”

“Christie Rodriguez. How do you know Eric and Jenny?”

“I… I’m Jack’s best friend… and lawyer. We all went to college together.”

“Uncle Shitty,” Jenny tugged on the edge of his jacket, “She didn’t know papa.”

“Oh! That’s right. He put like, Jack Bittle down on all the forms, yeah?” Shitty asked, not really directed at either the little girl or her teacher.

“He talked to Jenny after we called Eric.”

“Perfect!” Shitty said, as he knelt back down to Jenny’s level, “Hey kiddo, you wanna hang out with a stuffy old man like me for the day? Your dads feel awful about this, but your papa said he’d see you after the game, alright?”

The words _dads_ finally registered to Mrs. Rodriguez, who had, until now, been under the impression that Jack was Eric’s father, and her eyes grew wide. Shitty got back on his feet and signed the sign out sheet in the office. Jenny ran and put all her books back in her backpack before returning to grab his hand. She wasn’t quite sure what the word Shitty mumbled under his breath meant, and she decided to ask papa what _heteronormative_ was next time she saw him.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Rodriguez. I’m so sorry about all of this. Thank you.”

They walked out of the office towards Shitty’s car, parked in the visitor spot in front of the school.

“Hey Uncle Shitty? Why are you dressed so fancy? Did you go to a wedding?”

“Nah, Itty Bitty. I wear this to work.”

“Why?”

“Well, What does your daddy wear at work? And what do you wear when you help him work?”

“An apron!”

“And what does you papa wear to work?

“The smelly shirt. And skates!”

“Right! Oh crap I don’t have your car seat.”

Shitty unlocked the back of his car and Jenny climbed in.

“Ok. The name of the game today is ‘don’t tell daddy,’ got it?” Jenny nodded and Shitty buckled the seat belt around her torso. “I’m gonna drive real slow and hope nothing happens. Don't tell your daddy we drove without your car seat. And don't tell him I said 'crap'.”

“It’s Friday.”

“Yes it is, pumpkin.”

“Friday is cupcake day. Daddy and I always bake cupcakes on Friday after school.”

Shitty paused, right as he began pulling his car out of the parking spot. He thought for a second before he announced, “Well, you and me have a new tradition now. Whenever I pick you up on a Friday, it’ll be ice cream day instead.”


	2. Chapter 2

“How’s that taste?” Shitty asked Jenny, rainbow sorbet smeared all over her cheeks. She nodded with force before taking another lick of the frozen treat. He pulled out his phone moved around the table to sit next to her.

“This one’s for your dads, so try to look like we’re having a good time, ok?” Shitty said as he opened the front facing camera on his phone. Jenny, who’d had a camera in her face since the day she came home with Eric and Jack, scrunched her nose and stuck out her tongue, laughing. Shitty made a similar face, his mustache covered in excess ice cream.

Shitty sent the text and returned to his side of the table, sliding her a napkin and taking another lick.

“Uncle Shitty, what kind of ice cream did you get?” Jenny asked, mouth full of purple and blue sorbet.

“Butter pecan.”

“Sometimes daddy makes pie with pecans. You say pecan funny. And so does papa.”

“Actually, kiddo, its all the same thing. One day you’ll understand that both of you dads say pecan funny. I’m the only one who says it right.”

“Oh. Ok!” she responded cheerfully, and Shitty could hear her whisper the word pecan under her breath repeatedly.

His phone buzzed a few times in his pocket.

_Bitty: Hi this is Tommy the intern Bitty says that if his baby girl doesn’t wipe her face right this instant youre never babysitting ever again_

_Jack: haha love it_

_Bitty: Hi this is Tommy the intern Jenny is going to need a more substantial meal soon or else she’ll get cranky thanks_

“Hey Jen, your papa says he loves this new look you’re trying and you should look like this every day.”

The child looked at him quizzically, “Like auntie Lardo does?”

“ _Exactly_ like auntie Lardo does.”

Jenny popped the rest of her cone in her mouth. A second later her eyes squeeze tight and she hunched over the table.

“Oh my god what’s wrong?” Shitty cried out, terrified by the little kid’s sudden reaction.

It took a second before her little voice cried out, “Brain freeze!”

Shitty’s shoulders relaxed as he pulled over a cup of water he had gotten in case of this exact incident. “Here, kid. Drink some of this, you’ll feel better.”

She grabbed the cup and took a long drink. After her first sip she paused.

“Hey uncle Shitty, you’re really good at water.”

He more or less understood what she meant by her weird comment, and nodded in approval. “Did you know, back when I had school with your dads, it was my job to make sure you daddy had water all the time too? Sometimes we would have birthday parties and your daddy would have a lot of beer-“

“Gross Daddy Drinks,” Jenny interrupted, a dead serious look on her face.

“Yeah. Super gross daddy drinks. And it was my job to make sure he didn’t get a brain freeze.”

“Oh. Was I at the birthday party?”

Shitty, not for the first time that day, was baffled by how little kids think.

“No, sweetie. This was before your dads were married. Or even boyfriends.”

“They were _boyfriends?_ That’s weird.”

“Why’s it weird?”

“Because boyfriends are gross. Laurel said that Jacob was my boyfriend because he likes to play with my legos sometimes. But boyfriends do weird stuff like kisses and hands holding. And I don’t want to hold his hand or be his boyfriend. I just want to play legos with Jacob.”

“Miss Jenny,” Shitty started, his mouth partially agape, “you are smarter than everyone ever, did you know that?”

She giggled and took another sip of water.

“Are you ready to go?” He asked her, dipping a paper napkin into her water cup. She nodded and he moved to try to get as much of the rainbow stain off of her face.

They stood from their table and threw all their trash away. Jenny reached for Shitty’s hand and he steered them out of the mall food court. She pulled him along, going up to every window in the long row of shops to point out something she thought was pretty. He smiled sadly, remembering that, with as well known as her dads were, she wasn’t able to get out much and do things like going to the mall.

Shitty almost tripped over her when she dead stopped, eyes bulging.

“Books!” she called out.

“Do you want to go in and look at some?” he offered, reaching for the door of the Barnes and Noble. Jenny nodded her head vigorously and practically sprinted into the store.

They ended up in some chairs in the kid’s section, as she carefully sounded out the words to _If You Give a Mouse a Cookie._ Shitty’s interested-lawyer-legal-jargon-face was doing its job, but by the time she had finished the book, Jenny looked ready to fall asleep where she sat.

They wandered around the bookshelves for little kids a while more, before somehow ending up in a section with books about sports. Shitty was eying a book that explained counting using hockey terms, when he heard Jenny’s soft voice shout, “Papa!”

He snapped out of his haze to see her sitting down on the ground with a _Big Book of Hockey Stars._ Sure enough, one of the featured players on the cover was Jack, his well-known celly pose immortalized on the cardboard of a kid’s book.

Jenny opened the book and began turning every page.

“Honey, the book goes by the letters in the alphabet. Do you know where your papa’s name will be?” Shitty asked, as he moved to sit down with her again.

“Oh!” She said quietly, though she didn’t change her pace in flipping pages. Shitty had just about assumed this was a battle lost when she suddenly cried out, “They forgot Papa!”

“Hm? What’s that?”

“Look,” she pointed to the page, the first last name to start with ‘B.’ Her eyes drooped, a look she probably got from Jack to begin with. “He’s not here.”

Shitty pulled half of the very large book into his lap and patted her head. “Hey, sweetie. They didn’t forget you dad. No one can forget him. But do you remember what name is on his shirt?”

“Oh! Yeah! That’s like Grandpa Bobby. Zimmermann!”

“Right! And what was Zimmermann start with?”

Jenny paused. She took a deep breath before singing “ABCDEFGHIJKL…”

Shitty began leafing through the end of the book before finding the page they wanted.

“…XYZ. Z! It starts with Z! Papa says Z funny, too.”

“Great!” Shitty applauded, turning the whole book to one of the last pages. **Jack Zimmermann** was printed in huge letter across the top. The little girl looked in awe of the page, the picture of a man she sees every day smiling back at her. “There are a lot of big words. Do you want me to read it?”

She patted his hand and shook her head indignantly, looking remarkably like Eric for a second. Shitty was always boggled by how much Jenny could look like her parents, in their tone and expressions, despite being adopted.

By the third word on the page (“Canadian”) Jenny had given up, asking Shitty to take over reading for her. Occasionally she would stop to ask questions, and he would have to remind her that she knows all of the facts already, as Jack’s her dad.

“But uncle Shitty, what does gay mean?”

He sighed and leaned his head against the bookshelf behind him. “Well, pumpkin, gay is what your daddy is. It means that he has boyfriends and got married to your papa, who is also a man. So you have two dads, and they love you, and they love each other.”

“Oh, ok,” She said, beaconing him to continue reading.

“Well actually,” Shitty continued, unable to let old habits die, “This book is wrong. Because your papa is what they call bisexual, so he had boyfriends and girlfriends before he and your daddy got married. Actually this book glosses over a lot of things. Like ‘Jack decided that he was tired! So he went to school instead of joining a team, and made lots of friends and learned a lot.’ Bull shit,” Jenny gasped at his language and put a hand over his mouth, “Oh sorry, kid. I just mean, I get it’s a book for little ones, but you can still talk about important topics. These were super huge things to who Jack is, how he learned and grew. But I can tell I’m losing you.”

They continued to browse the page, looking at the two photos of the little girl’s father. The ‘Family’ portion of the biography mentioned Bob and Alicia, as well as “Jack’s husband Eric and their daughter,” which made Jenny jump up and squeal.

Shitty took a photo of her rereading the page and sent it in the group chat he had going with her dads. The response was almost immediate.

_Jack: :-/_

_Jack: Shits you know_

_Jack: when I was in her position_

_Jack: I don’t want that to happen to her_

Rather than write back, Shitty took a video of Jenny holding up the book.

“What do you want to say to you papa, sweetie?” he asked from behind the camera.

“Bonjour! Je t’aime, papa! I like the smile you have. And look! I’m in this big book!” Shitty moved the camera to focus on the line about her and Bitty quickly before pulling it back out. She pointed at more parts of the page, “That’s you! I miss you. Oh! I had rainbow ice cream! And read books! Uncle Shitty is really smart and nice. Play good today, kick every butt! Okay bye, papa!” She leaned down and gave the little Jack Zimmermann photo in the book a kiss before waving to the camera. Shitty sent the video right away.

They put the book back on the shelf and Jenny bounded to her feet. Shitty slowly rolled to his knees, complaining in an overdramatic fashion about how old he was getting. It took no less than three tries to get him off the floor.

Shitty had to stop from himself from venturing over to the philosophy section of Barnes and Noble. He figured that while it’s never too early to educate your child on Feminist ideology, today might not be the best day. He had total faith in Jack and Bitty’s parenting styles, anyways.

As they walked together out the bookstore, Shitty’s phone buzzed again, this time a call from Bitty.

“Heeeeeeello, Shitty Knight, at your service,” he answered.

“Hey Shits.”

“Whoa Intern Tommy your Bitty impersonation is getting really good!”

“Oh har har, you’ll run out of chirps one day, I swear.”

“Would you like to speak with my intern? She’ll schedule an appointment for us to meet face to face soon if you’d like,” Shitty said as he handed the phone to Jenny and whispered, “It’s your daddy,” to her.

“Hello?” She said in a timid voice.

“Hello, yes, is this Mister Knight’s assistant? This is Eric Bittle, I’d like to schedule an appointment.”

She giggled into the receiver, “No, daddy! It’s Jenny!”

“What?!” Bitty yelled in fake shock, “No, this sounds too grown up to be Jenny. Are you sure?”

“Yes, daddy! It’s me!”

“Oh goodness! You’re right! I have to go for one day and you decide to grow up so much…” She laughs again and his voice softens, “Baby girl, I’m so, so sorry about today. I miss you so much, but I’m going to have to stay at work a while longer, ok?”

“Alright,” she replied in a small voice.

“We’re gonna make it up tomorrow, alright? Well make cupcakes all day if you want.”

“All day?!” the little girl shouted brightly.

“Of course. All tomorrow, you, me, and papa. I saw you reading his book.”

“Yeah, that was fun.”

“Good, Are you having fun with Uncle Shitty?”

“Yeah!” she excitedly yelled again, “ He’s the _best_.”

“That’s wonderful, sweetie. Hey, so I’m going to be at this wedding all night, so maybe you can ask him to take you to papa’s game. Does that sound like a good idea?”

Jenny jumped around and nodded frantically, not understanding that her father couldn’t hear her do so.

            “Hey sweetheart, I have to get back to work, but I love you. Can I talk to Uncle Shitty for a second?”

            Bitty’s daughter said her goodbyes before handing the phone back to Shitty.

            “How’s she been?”

            “Bits, I don’t know how you did it, but you won the kid jackpot. She’s been amazing all day.”

            Bitty let out a sigh, “Oh good. She should probably eat soon, she had a snack earlier, but nothing really big in a while.”

“What are you talking about?! We had ice cream together!” Bitty was _mostly_ sure that Shitty was joking.

“Well, I won’t be able to get to the game tonight, so you two can get our tickets. We’re playing the Bruins. You’ll have fun. Jack can take her home after that. Oh and Shitty?”

“Yes, dear?”

“If my little girl’s cursing vocabulary grows tonight, I will end you.”

“Perfectly understood. She’s already promised not to repeat anything I say, so we’re fine.”

“Shitty that’s not-“

“OKAY BYE LOVE YOU, BITTY,” Shitty shouted, hanging up his phone and sliding it into his pocket.

Jenny grabbed his hand again and they walked along more stores.

“Daddy’s not coming home,” she said quietly after a moment. Shitty didn’t know too much about kids, but he could see the waterworks coming from a mile away. She sniffled, “Daddy isn’t coming home and he forgot me today. I don’t want daddy to forget me. I don’t want papa to forget me too. Uncle Shitty I don’t wa-wa-want…” her sniff turned into a full on sob.

Shitty dropped to his knees instantly, looking her right in the eyes.

“Hey, hey. Kid. Uh…” he trailed off. This wasn’t his thing. He was the cool uncle. He was the uncle that got to hand the kid back to the parent when things got messy.

“Do you remember that time, when you were at the locker room at the Pittsburg game last year? And you thought you saw Uncle Tater? And so you went off to talk to him. And your dads were talking and didn’t see you go?”

Jenny nodded her little head.

“But after you followed him a long time you saw it wasn’t Tater, was it?”

She shook her head and rubbed her eyes.

“Who was it? I know you remember, because you were so star struck.”

The tears were still coming down the child’s face, but they’d slowed in frequency. Her voice was soft but still laden with sadness when she spoke, “Geno Malkin.”

“Yup! And then what happened?”

“H-he said we would find my dad. And we went to all of the big security men. An-and I don’t know the security man at the Penguins. And they don’t know Papa. And I was so scared. But Geno picked me up when I cried.”

“And who came after that?”

“M-mister Crosby.”

“Exactly. And what did he say?”

“He told Geno we all had to keep our I Spy eyes on because papa couldn’t f-find his little girl.”

“And what did Geno say?”

“H-he said that it was funny because I can’t find my papa. And it was funny that I thought he was Uncle Tato. And Mister Crosby made a funny face.”

“Oh did he sound like that? Or did he sound like,” Shitty squared his shoulders and scrunched up his face, “Dis liddle goorl lose fader. Very sad. We find him, yes? At same time we find missing Zimmermann baby. Many missing babies and daddies tonight. Dis one think I am Alexei Mashkov. Very funny child.”

His ridiculous Russian accent finally broke Jenny’s sadness and she giggled through her tears.

“And then Mister Crosby called papa.”

“Did you know your daddy was texting me the whole time? And when your papa got the call from Sid, your daddy called me first. And he was so happy he was crying. And you papa had already left.”

“He was running so fast!”

“Yeah he was! You wanna know why?”

Jenny leaned her head to one side, her eyes now dry but still red and puffy. Shitty figured she got her ‘silent question’ look from Jack.

“Because your papa loves you. So much. And he never would forget about you. Never, ever. Even when you’re not right next to him. And your daddy loves you so much too. And sometimes there are funny days. Like when your daddy burns a pie. Or your papa loses to the Maple Leafs. Or you have to hang out with me. But those days don’t happen a lot. And when they do, we laugh and say that tomorrow will have to be extra fun.”

“When we went to the hotel, papa read me a goodnight book _and_ daddy read me a goodnight book. And then we had a snuggle party. And I got to sleep in the fancy pajamas.”

            “What!? Fancy pajamas! I gotta get me some of those.”

“Ask Santa for fancy pajamas.”

“Y’know what kid? I think I might just. That’s a wonderful idea.”

Shitty stood up, his knees popping, and held on to the little girl’s hand as they talked about all the things they wanted for Christmas.

“Itty Bitty, you want to get a corndog?” Shitty interjected after a few minutes. Eric had said something about her needing to eat, and if the small breakdown had been any indicator of her fragile temperament, his minutes before full meltdown were numbered, even if the first crisis had been averted.

“Whatsa corndog?”

“What’s a… What’s a corndog?” he echoed, “You’ve never had a corndog before?”

Jenny shook her head as Shitty steered her towards the closest Hotdog on a Stick.

“Ok, you know cornbread, right? I know you do because your daddy’s cornbread is the best.”

“Yeah! The best!”

“Ok. And you’ve had a hotdog before, yes?”

“Uncle Shitty, you’re silly,” she laughed. Her voice dropped down to a barely audible whisper, and she said mostly to herself, “I love hotdogs.”

“Hey, I’m just checking. Your papa is the silly one, ok? Never had a corndog, what’s that man thinking? Ok. So think of a hot dog. Covered in corn bread.”

Jenny’s eyes went wide and she practically pulled him to the small vendor.

Minutes later, they sat in silence, munching on their respective fried snacks. Catsup coated the little girl’s face as she struggled to get the entirety of the corndog in her mouth for each bite. Shitty snapped a photo of her, smiling and giving a thumbs-up with the hand that wasn’t holding the hot dog.

_Shitty: Phase 2 of corrupting your child is going swimmingly._

_Shitty: Jackieboy, you’ve seriously never let this kid have a corndog?_

_Shitty: I raised you better than this_

He grabbed a handful of napkins, wiping the catsup and other generic-five-year-old-kid-goo off of Jenny’s face.

“Whassthat?” she asked, pointing at the big shop across the walkway from their table.

“Well, kid, that’s a sporting store. They sell things you need to play sports with.”

“Like what?”

Shitty squinted at the daughter of professional athlete and Stanley Cup winner, Jack Zimmermann, before taking out his wallet. He mused, “If you can name one thing you use when you play a sport, I will give you a dollar. And you can spend that dollar however you want today. Deal?”

Jenny sat there, thinking hard.

“You want a hint? You just said you want one for Christmas. And one of your dads has a lot of them.”

“Fancy aprons are not in sports.”

“No, you’re right. They’re not. So maybe it’s the other dad,” Shitty hinted again.

“Oh! Stick! Hockey stick!”

“Bingo!” Shitty called out, handing the dollar over to the excited little girl. He grabbed the remaining few bites of her abandoned corn dog. Mouth full, he said, “Hey, you wanna go check them out?”

He couldn’t collect the trash and throw it away fast enough before Jenny had rocketed towards the entrance of the sporting goods store.

“Wait for me!” he called out, “I’m such an old man. Oh no! I think my back is breaking.” His pace slowed to a crawl. Jenny huffed and ran back to yank his hand and speed up her uncle.

Shitty was greeted by the vague plastic scent of unused sports equipment, that all sporting stores have, the second he entered the shop. He missed that smell. He and Jenny wandered around for a minute before finally locating the hockey isle.

“Can I help you with anything today?” a store attendant asked, popping out of nowhere. Shitty peered at the kid’s nametag, which read MARVIN.

“Oh! Uh, I don’t know. She’s just sort of looking.”

Jenny took a child’s size stick she liked off the rack, her eyes wide in awe.

“Super cute kid, you’ve got there,” Marvin commented, as both men watched her tap invisible pucks around.

“Ha yeah she is. Not mine though, I’m her uncle.”

“Oh! Sorry, sir. Well, cute niece you’ve got there. Does she skate already?”

“Yeah, I think her dad got her out on the ice the second she could walk on her own. No actual hockey yet though. She’s so tiny, you know? So I think he’s waiting. But he promised her a stick for Christmas, and now she’s super excited. And- WHOA KIDDO! Y’know the rules. What’s high sticking get you?”

Jenny, who may have gotten a little too excited with her imaginary goal and definitely real celly, brought her stick back down to the ground. She whispered, “Two in the sin bin. Sorry,” before returning back to her game.

“Wow, she really knows her game.”

“Yeah, she does. That’s all her dad. He’s… deeply involved with hockey. Both her dads, really. We were all on the same team in college.”

“Uncle Shitty, can we go look at tape?”

“Of course, hon,” he answered, moving with the girl and Marvin the Employee to the rack that held all the different types of tape. She gasped and grabbed a roll of blue tape, covered in Providence Falconer logos.

Marvin smiled down at her, “You like the Falconers?”

Jenny nodded her head at an impossibly quick rate.

“Who’s your favorite?” Jenny took a second to look from Marvin to Shitty. Her uncle winked.

“Interview time, pumpkin.”

Over the summer, Shitty knew, Jack and Eric had talked a lot with their daughter. With starting school, her life was going to be a lot more public, even more than it already was. They’d worked out a system for whenever something too personal could be talked about, especially when asked by a stranger, before getting spread to the world. And so, Jenny and Jack adopted the same style of question answering.

The bright smile of the little girl turned into a very serious face. Shitty would have laughed if a kid ever looked at him that way, but thankfully Marvin wasn’t Shitty.

“My favorite Falconer is pa-Jack Zimmermann. He is a really good captain and we’re going to get the Stanley cup again because of him.”

“Oh wow!” Marvin exclaimed, “you really know your stuff. Did you see all the Jack Zimmermann shirts we have?” He pointed to a rack covered in white and blue jerseys.

“Jen, sweetie, do you really need _another_ one? Your papa already has so many. And you’ve got two at home, ready for you to wear tonight.”

“Oh! You two are going to the game tonight? Than must be sooo exciting. Who are we playing?” Marvin inquired as they walked towards the racks of merchandise.

“Bruins,” she said with a scrunched nose.

“Hey, don’t hate on my boys,” Shitty remarked, hand flying to his chest in fake offense. He grabbed a Boston hat that just happened to be on a stand next to him and placed it on her head before she could even object. Marvin laughed, watching the interaction.

“OH!” Shitty exclaimed, “That gives me an idea. Hey Miss Jen-nay, you wanna pull a prank on your papa?”

“Like Uncle Ransom and Uncle Holster do?”

“Yes! Exactly like them!”

He grabbed the biggest Bruins sweater he could find off the rack, along with a scarf, gloves, and the hat. Marvin was directed to grab the hockey stick she had been looking at earlier. There was a laughably limited amount of Bruins merchandise in Providence, but Shitty already knew that would be the case.

They put every article of clothing on to the little girl, drowning her in the jersey. Shitty pulled out his phone and took a picture.

_> Group Message: The Wonder Years_

_Shitty: Look who I’ve converted_

_Holster: YEAAAAH_

_Nursey: Im so proud of our little girl_

_Ransom: Take that Providicks Fuckonturds_

Another text arrived but before Shitty could see who wrote it, a Facetime call request came. Jack’s face filled up the whole phone screen, but Shitty kept his camera trained on Jenny.

“Papa?!” his daughter cried.

“Sweetie, are you ok? What did Uncle Shitty do? Why are you dressed like that?” Jack called out through the phone.

Shitty couldn’t hold in his laughter any more. As soon as he burst out, Jenny went into hysterics. A very confused Jack and an _extremely_ confused Marvin waited for the two to settle down.

“Papa, we pranked you!”

Jack let out a deep chuckle

“Kiddo, be glad your papa isn’t superstitious,” Shitty said through his wheezing, “But really bro, why did you call? It wasn’t that big of a thing.”

“Wanted to see my little girl’s face. I’m about to start getting ready for the game. And you’re right I’m not superstitious. But I know her pre-game kiss helps me play better. And I can’t get one today.”

Jack fake pouted and Jenny took the phone out of Shitty’s hands.

“Papa. Je t’aime! Hold your phone to your cheek, please.”

Shitty didn’t even care that she smooched his camera on his phone, because the whole interaction was just so damn cute.

“Thank you, princess. I’ll see you late tonight, ok? Love you.”

“Bye Papa! Good luck! Give uncle Tato a good luck kiss too, please!”

“Hahaha I will, promise. Bye.”

The phone call ended and Jenny handed Shitty’s phone back to him. She took off the gloves and hat, placing them in a dumbfounded Marvin’s arms.  
            “Hey, so when she said she was a big Jack Zimmermann fan…” he trailed off cautiously.

Shitty placed his finger to his lips in a shushing motion and winked.

“Come on, kiddo. Your papa’s getting ready for the game so we should probably be getting ready too.”

As she pulled the sweater over her head, Shitty handed a twenty-dollar bill to a wide-eyed Marvin.

“Listen. Last five minutes? Didn’t happen. You didn’t just see a skype call between a well-known professional athlete and his child. I am a lawyer, got it? You don’t repeat any of this.”

“Oh! Promise! I wouldn’t dream of it! I’m just a little star struck, s’all. But yeah, no, I would never,” Marvin said, pushing the dollar bill back.

Shitty’s face flashes a look of suspicion, followed by weariness, before finally settling on a neutral expression. Jenny was still preoccupied with putting all the merchandise, and he nodded, sliding the dollar back in his wallet.

“Thanks,” he said solemnly, “You can’t imagine how rare that is. Being a dece person. So thank you.”

“Uncle Shitty! I’m all done!”

“Alright, kiddo! You want to head out? We’ve got lots to do before the big game.”

“Yeah! Ok! Bye! Thank you!” she waved at Marvin, who reciprocated the action.

“Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to come back any time!” the attendant called after the duo.

“I wanna bring papa next time! I want to show him all the sticks and tape and pucks!” The little girl jumped up and down.

“You know, that’s a good idea. I’m sure he would really like that,” Marvin weakly responded, attempting to hide the excitement over the idea of the Jack Zimmermann coming to his store.

“Your papa would love it. Now, we can stand around all day discussing the merits of a fifteen-dollar minimum wage, or we could let Marv here get back to work. Let’s go, sweetie,” Shitty beaconed, now eager to get home.

Jenny raced him all the way to the car. She won.

**Author's Note:**

> My Check Please! tumblr is taddietango  
> My personal tumblr is superdaisies


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